


Shared Habits

by Small_Hobbit



Series: Another Twelve Days of Christmas [10]
Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-04
Updated: 2017-01-04
Packaged: 2018-09-13 11:14:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 590
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9121117
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Small_Hobbit/pseuds/Small_Hobbit
Summary: There's more to sharing habits than first meets the eye.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [TheWhiteLily](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheWhiteLily/gifts).



Greg Lestrade was trying very hard to keep up with Sherlock’s logic as he followed him into 221B.  He assumed the vaguely waved hand meant he should have a seat, so he selected the armchair which had the least amount of junk on it, moved the rubbish onto the floor and sat down.  He waited whilst Sherlock went into the kitchen and switched the kettle on.  Thirty seconds later Sherlock too sat down, still talking.  Greg wasn’t sure whether he’d missed anything while Sherlock was in the kitchen, but since he’d given up on understanding what was being said several sentences earlier, he didn’t think it would matter.

Five minutes later John came in and, just as Sherlock had done, he went into the kitchen and switched the kettle on.  The only difference being that after a short while John came out carrying three mugs of tea.

Sherlock then repeated his train of thought for John’s benefit.  Greg was relieved because this time it meant he was able to follow the argument.  Sherlock again didn’t stop talking, but now he added various explanations.  Since Sherlock never deigned to explain, Greg was puzzled as to why he had unexpectedly seen the need to do so, without John actually interrupting and asking questions.  Greg suddenly realised Sherlock was responding to the different ways John would move, and interpreting the movements as questions.

Sherlock had almost completed his explanation when he glanced at the clock, said, “Right, let’s go” and he and John simultaneously took out their phones, did something, (Greg wasn’t sure what; had it been an earlier era he would have said they were synchronising their watches), and then the two of them thundered back down the stairs, with Greg in hot pursuit.

Greg thought no more about the slight strangeness of Sherlock and John’s behaviour until a few days later.  He and Sally Donovan were sitting in a car watching as Sherlock and John made contact with an informant.  The arrangement was the two of them would accompany the man and then report back.

Suddenly Sally said, “Follow that car sir, there’s something wrong.”

Greg did as instructed, but asked “How do you know?”

“You know how for the last few months John’s always got in the driver’s side of a taxi, whilst Sherlock gets in the other – they’ll even swap over if they’re standing the other way round?”

“I hadn’t really noticed, but carry on.”

“This time it’s reversed.  I’ve watched them and it’s not even a conscious decision, it’s just what they do.  But they looked at each other and got in the opposite sides from normal.”

“It makes as much sense as anything else Sherlock does.”

Greg followed the car until a few minutes later it pulled up outside a house in a square.  They saw a man, who had been standing on the pavement, open the front passenger door.  Greg switched on his blue lights and drew up alongside.  He and Sally jumped out and ran to the car they had been following, and pulled open the rear doors, to find Sherlock and John slumped on the back seat.

The driver and his potential passenger attempted to escape, but Greg moved rapidly and prevented the driver from getting out of his car, while the other was no match for Sally, so both were quickly arrested.

Later, when Sherlock had recovered from the effect of the chloroform, he remarked, “Nice to see at least one member of your team is able to both see and observe, Lestrade.”

 


End file.
